ABOUT US

PACE Career Centre is a Career Guidance Organisation based in Cape Town, South Africa. We are a social benefit company and have been in the field of career guidance for over 30 years. Our work has helped shape South Africa’s career guidance landscape. Our core business is to improve access to education through career guidance. Our work is informed through active research. Our key interest is working with developing economies. PACE works with government and policymakers to deliver effective and appropriate career guidance in Sub Sarahan Africa

BACKGROUND

PACE Career Centre was founded in 1991.
Well-known for innovation in the advancement and delivery of career guidance.
A social benefit organisation, with self-funded work north of South Africa.

Introduced “Career Dress-Up Day" in 2008 which now runs in thousands of primary schools every year.
Founded the South African Career Development Association (SACDA) in 2009 - serves as the professional body for career development in South Africa.
Coordinated and hosted the first IAEVG International Career Development Conference in Africa in 2011
Established the South African National Career Advice Service in 2013
Founded the East African Career Development Association (EACDA) in 2017- promotes and supports career guidance delivery in the region.
The PACE Research Institute, PACE's research arm was founded in 2019 (PBO 930-071-134).

Wrote the Competency Framework for Career Development Practitioners in South Africa (Government Gazette, 40115).
Wrote the draft curriculum framework for career guidance delivery in schools in South Africa.

PROJECTS

Developed the first fully customisable online career guidance delivery system www.gostudy.net.
Designed and built the National Career Advice Portal (NCAP) for South Africa.
Built the transnational career guidance system for the 32 small states of the Commonwealth.
Designed and deployed career guidance systems for 14 countries in Africa.
Initiated Literacy & Numeracy, an academic placement testing for TVET Colleges
Publish career guidance resources and curriculum resources for schools.
Set up non-exclusive branches in Ghana, Kenya, and Rwanda.
Currently researching an AI model to predict academic success and potentially reduce the high dropout rate in schools and universities.

OUR TEAM

AVRON HERR

Avron Herr is the founder and CEO of PACE Career Centre. He is also the founder of the South African Career Development Association which is the professional body for career development practitioners in South Africa.

Avron is a capable strategist with a vision to see career guidance delivery take a foothold on the African continent. He has played a pivotal role in career guidance policy in South Africa.

Avron now works with several countries in Africa learning the local nuances and needs in terms of career guidance delivery in each respective county. His understanding of career guidance delivery within the African context makes him a leader in policy development and implementation on the continent. Avron has helped design and introduce career guidance systems in 14 African countries.

XOLA YOYO

Xola is a Director of the PACE Institute which is the research arm of PACE Career Centre. He is also the founder of the NPO, Imithayelanga Youth Development agency based in East London, South Africa.

Xola's has a keen interest in developing young people from rural areas. He has applied this interest by forging a career in the NGO sector. He worked for loveLife Trust where he advanced to become a Regional Manager before joining the head office as Programme Coordinator for six provinces.

Xola has a vision of uplifting rural youth through career development. He believes in building the capacity of organisations by establishing sound administration and management practices.

LAZARUS SITHAGU

Lazarus Sithagu has a passion for helping young people. He has been working with PACE since 1996 and is the lead coordinator and trainer for the PACE Career Practitioner Programme.

Lazarus has a proven commitment to Education and

Training in National and Provincial schools communities. He has over 25 years experience providing career guidance services to South African learners and training of Life Orientation educators.

Lazarus is also a licensed Assessor and Moderator at both operational and managerial level. He started his career as a Warehouse Assistant Manager at David Whitehead and Sons before deciding to leave and follow his passion.

DENNIS STEAD

Dennis Stead is a Director at PACE Career Centre based in Cape Town and runs PACE’s online platform, called Gostudy, a career information network running in 14 African countries.

His goal is to make career information freely available to young people in Africa. One of the means to support this goal is through the online platform and training of career practitioners.

Dennis has developed training materials for nationally recognised qualifications and training programmes for career development. He publishes the books and software to support these programmes and facilitates the training programmes to accredit career practitioners.

ONLINE SYSTEMS